What did I give up on stopping work?

These thoughts are inspired by a post from a US blogger I follow on four things he gave up to retire early. According to him the four things given up were power/influence, big beautiful house, international travel, and guaranteed financial security. I will comment on these four and two more of my own.

I
feel that I had my time of “power and influence” in the workplace and
have been there and done that. I peaked in my career relatively early (in my
thirties) in achieving a senior role and holding it for eight years in a
growing and successful small-medium company. I wasn’t so keen to keep doing
that so felt able to drop back into supporting roles in mostly larger companies
for the second half of my career. I then felt able to drop out of working
altogether after thirty years of it. I had moved away from having or wanting
power and influence long before I stopped work.

Houses
and travel are all about choices and trade-offs when working. Paying off the
home mortgage felt like a better choice than buying a bigger house when
striving for financial independence. We did, however, make it so far up the
property ladder and had some good luck on the timing of things. As with the
career we peaked early on housing (in our thirties) and didn’t strive for more
thereafter. As house prices got much higher, with the differential price of a
bigger house rising, that was a disincentive too. We were settled in our big
enough house and were not motivated to move to a bigger house long before I
stopped work.

On
travel we have travelled a bit internationally, and can do a bit more in the
future. We probably should have done a bit more when we were working so I
regret that a little. We can’t travel more in our thirties anymore because that
time has gone. We can only consider it for our fifties or later. Travel was not
a big priority for us at the time, so I only have a little regret. I think I
retain some (but not all) choices on travel now I’m not working. Whether
working or not these choices would narrow anyway as time moves on.

Security can
be considered on different levels and can be elusive whether working or not.
Things change. I feel I have financial security although there is no guarantee.
As I gained more financial security, the security of a job was not something I
especially sought in my later years in work. Earlier on I had seen a three
month notice period as a benefit, later I came to see it as a burden. At the
end I only had one month’s notice to give in order to make my exit.

Healthcare
provision in our country (the UK) gives our family some protection and
confidence that is maybe lacking for those in other countries. We haven’t taken
out health insurances and have no issues at present. Residential care costs
towards the end of life pose a potential concern. I believe these would be
manageable but they would reduce the value of any inheritance we leave.

What I did
feel that I consciously gave up was the opportunity to earn more money. The one
(or five) more year syndrome if you like. I did consider the amount that five
more years of my take home pay would represent but I then decided that it
wouldn’t make a lot of difference to my life at that point. Five years on I
hold to that view. In striving for financial independence, I did not have an
expectation of a lavish lifestyle and I still don’t. By having a more modest
lifestyle it has been easier to get to financial independence and easier to
live with it.

A second
thing that I consciously gave up was the opportunity for further challenge and
recognition in the workplace. I am still interested in challenges but I
recognise that I am now seeking them outside of the workplace.